Over the last few years, emerging technologies have forced traditional business models to adapt to the changing environment driven by artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics and robotics today.
However, many tech and HR experts feel that a substantial percentage of Indian business leaders need to upskill their technical know-how to keep pace with the technology.
Aman Atri, who has served as HR head in companies like Gillette and Reliance, says that 40 per cent to 50 per cent of corporate leaders from various business verticals are not up to date with the application of new technologies. “I do not mean to say that corporate leaders should know and learn how to develop applications and machines, but they should know how the use of latest technology in their respective businesses can help them remain relevant and competitive in the market,” he says.
Over time, it has become evident that leaders across sectors will have to upskill as far as tech is concerned.
Take the online retail market, for instance. Today, when consumers shop on any app or website, it gives them recommendations based on their buying behaviour and history. It also tells them what they might want to buy in addition to the items in their carts and follows it up with related similar products that people normally buy. This is all based on a machine learning algorithm which runs behind the scenes and captures the buying pattern, history and behaviour of the consumers.
Experts say that many online retail companies are receiving up to 30 per cent more revenue just because of machine learning algorithms which help them to upsell and cross-sell products.
“Now, the customers know the app is going to recommend what they should buy. Sometimes, people look for advice also. This is one of the instances how business leaders from the retail sector can stay ahead in the rapidly evolving field of technology,” says a retail sector expert.
A similar shift can be noticed in the healthcare and medical sciences area as well where machine learning is helping doctors in the early diagnosis of critical illnesses by looking at MRI and CT scans.
Here, with the help of engineers, the machine learning algorithm is trained by doctors to pick the signs of certain kinds of illnesses which can be detected early on and in a much better way by machines, enabling faster treatment by the doctors and the better chances of recovery. To add to that, the success rate has also been fairly good.
Gerald Jaideep, CEO, Medvarsity Online, a company that offers advanced medical online courses, is of the view that while Indians have been proudly steering the leading tech giants of the world and also driving innovations back home, the technology landscape in India is far from being seamless and evenly distributed.
He points out that even though a fully autonomous business model is yet to see the light of day in the country, corporations are inventing, integrating and even retrofitting automated systems and processes into the value chain—from data processing to collaborations.
“For the leadership and the teams to work more effectively and creatively, they must be able to interact with technology in a natural and fluid way. The ability to interface with technology can help achieve that by offering novel solutions to new-age challenges and have a greater business impact,” says Jaideep.
Having said that, human resource experts also believe that more corporate leaders are making efforts to understand the needs of the future workforce—Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) being a good case in point.
Realising the need to make business leaders and senior managers understand how the application of machine learning will grow and transform its businesses, TCS, along with DeakinCo., the corporate learning and development division of Deakin University, one of the leading universities in Australia, recently co-developed a corporate learning programme. It meets the growing need to understand, manage and progress adoption and application of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet of things, to name a few.
“This collaboration between DeakinCo. and TCS brings together unique academic and industry expertise in technology areas. This will help business leaders and decision-makers with non-IT backgrounds enhance their skills and grow their businesses by applying new technologies,” says Ankur Mathur, head, education business, TCS.
Glenn Campbell, CEO, DeakinCo., has a very particular reason behind the collaboration. “What we found was that the level of understanding about emerging technologies is not that great among business leaders who come from a non-technical background. That is the reason why we co-developed and launched this programme,” he says
Besides, many educational institutions have also started foraying into this area and enabling the business world to catch up with technological advancements.
